Construction work continues in the main lobby of the new St. Anthony North Health Campus. The campus, near Interstate 25 and 144th Avenue in Westminster, will cost about $177 million to complete.

Construction workers put in ceiling panels above a reception area at the new St. Anthony North Health Campus. The 50-acre campus has miles of marked walking trails, a chapel, an assortment of water features and gardens.

WESTMINSTER — It might be a hospital, but the design of the new $177 million St. Anthony North Health Campus is meant to make guests forget about sickness when it opens in early 2015.

“It’s a paradigm shift,” said Kevin Jenkins, a St. Anthony North vice president. “Our goal is to keep people healthy.”

The design reflects the shift — from a typical hospital maze of hallways, wings, offices and labs to a mall-like open plan.

Inside the airy three-story “wellness atrium,” patients can see what’s located on upper floors.

“They can see where they’re going,” Jenkins said, pointing to the third floor. “Up there is the women’s center. We think the wellness atrium is a unique feature.”

Guests can see miles of the Rocky Mountains through towering windows. The interior view includes demonstration kitchens offering healthy-cooking classes, an eatery, gift shop, drop-in day care, pharmacy and other retail-like elements.

Focus groups said they wanted “calm, peaceful, serene,” Jenkins said. Much of the hospital is situated away from the large Level III trauma center with 24/7 emergency services.

The 50-acre campus has miles of marked walking trails, a chapel, an assortment of water features and gardens. Much of the acreage will be held as vacant land awaiting future development.

Of the 92 inpatient beds, 60 are concentrated — and tucked out of view — on the fourth floor. All the essential hospital services are in the 350,000-square-foot building — imaging, doctor offices, surgery center, 20-bed intensive care unit, 12 birthing rooms, labs and so on. They just aren’t what most people will see, unless they need to be in one of them.

Flood damage to the first floor in September 2013 from 12 inches of rain set back the opening of the new health campus from late 2014 to a newly scheduled March date. Crews had to replace almost half the concrete on the first floor. Repairing the damage cost $6.6 million and three months of lost work, Centura spokeswoman Christy Maraone said.

The old St. Anthony North, off Federal Boulevard and 84th Avenue in Westminster, will be repurposed, Jenkins said, as a long-term care and rehab services facility with a free-standing emergency department, primary care and behavioral health services.

“What we’re not going to do is abandon the population we’re already serving,” Jenkins said.

Eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 were closed Saturday afternoon at Georgetown due to a semitrailer fire, the Colorado Department of Transportation tweeted. The right lane remains closed, while the other lanes have since reopened. Drivers can expect heavy delays, transportation officials said. The fire initially closed both sides of the interstate as smoked crossed the highway. The load on the...